Natalia-sama gnawed on me as her tails swayed. It hurt quite a bit, to say the least.

“Yaaaaaaaaaaiiii, Natalia-saaaaaaaaaama!”

I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I pried at her jaw to ease the pressure a smidge. My torso felt tortured. “Do you want to bleed me to death now?”

“W-wow..." Rui whistled. “I don’t think that’s working. You’re just soaking his costume with saliva. Hey, Susumu, how are you enjoying the kiss?”

I hadn’t thought about it that way yet. When I considered it, I blushed. My helmet was filling with noh-nose-blood.

*SPLORT*

“His helmet’s melting..." Rui sounded disgusted.

“No, it’s blood... ack!” Natalia-sama spat me out instantly and spluttered for a while after for good measure.

“He might need another infusion at this rate. That didn’t go as well as hoped for.” I could hear the pout in Natalia-sama’s voice.

Leaping up from the chair, Rui rushed into the makeshift arena. She knelt at my side while I struggled to remove my helmet.

“Blub... bluubbbb..." I noh-spluttered. “I’m going to drown!” I thrashed, kicking myself in circles on the paved floor of the warehouse. My fingers slipped on the mask, I couldn’t budge it.

“Oh, my..." Natalia-sama growled while she shifted into her human form again while I spun. This time she had vestigial fox ears and a tail. They were golden as she was with black borders along the rims of her delicate ears with little tufts in the cavities. Her human ones weren’t evident at the moment. “Susumu-san, calm down! You’re thinking like a mortal human! Change your thinking! You don’t breathe anymore. You can’t suffocate or drown! You’re dripping with silly desperation. You might kill yourself with the anxiety if you don’t relax. Think positively. What makes you happy?” She rushed over to look down at me.

“You could give him a hug, Natalia,” Rui suggested with a wry note.

“N-no! It’d make this worse!” Even the suggestion of a hug from Natalia-sama with her lovely marshmallow-like boobs pressed against me increased the flow.

I blubbed more, and they stared at me speechless, but as time passed I realized that she was right. I wondered how I was able to noh-nosebleed to death with neither eyes nor nose.

“I’m not touching that helmet.” Rui shook her head, waving her hands. “Nope... Do you have a sink here? Another place he can wash up? He smells like iron right now. I don’t think anyone would notice it without a keen sense of smell. If Noh-face can somehow smell, I’m sure it..."

“Yes,” Natalia-sama cut her off. “There isn’t a shower, but there is a sink and a toilet.” Natalia-sama shrugged.

“We could stuff his head in the toilet and flush it a few times to clean his face,” Rui suggested sardonically.

“Hell no!” I protested loudly.

Rui spoke again with a little sigh. “I suppose a sink will do the job, but why isn’t there a shower?”

“This is just a warehouse. You know,” Natalia-sama said in a matter of fact tone. “Honestly, how am I supposed to teach Susumu how to embrace his yokai powers now?” she muttered, placing her hands on her hips. She stamped a delicate foot.

“I-I don’t know, either..." I nodded with a sigh of my own. “I mean... when you chewed on me, I didn’t feel threatened. I don’t think you’re a bad person.”

“Maybe you can only release your powers when your life is truly in danger.” She gestured with a beckoning finger and while wearing a slightly sad smile. “Come this way. You may not have gained very much time from the infusion. It’s entirely possible that your body is rejecting it. I wonder if you will last until midnight.”